When his peers in the Native American
Finance Officers Association honored Joe Nayquonabe, Jr. this spring
as their Executive of the Year, attention was given to the progress
the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe is making in diversifying its
investments and business enterprises.

Nayquonabe is Commissioner of
Corporate Affairs for the Band and is chief executive officer of
Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures (MLCV), the Band’s business
investment arm that operates like a holding company with management
responsibilities.

MLCV now has more than 35 different
business entities. Together with the Band’s government and earlier
investments in enterprises, the Mille Lacs Band is responsible for
creating more than 3,500 jobs on and off the reservation.

The two anchors of the Band’s
enterprises at the reservation, Grand Casino Mille Lacs and Grand
Casino Hinckley, have 2,648 employees while non-gaming businesses
located there have 225 employees. Other businesses are scattered
around neighboring communities in East-Central Minnesota, in the Twin
Cities metro area and now include a hotel in Oklahoma City.

The Mille Lacs Band entered the gaming
business 24 years ago. The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) then listed
reservation unemployment at a staggering 80 percent. The Band now
assesses its unemployment rate at 14 percent, a rate derived from
knowing who is still in need of a job. That is a more simple,
accurate but unofficial formula than methods used by the Bureau of
Labor Statistics to measure unemployment for states, counties and
cities.

“We are continually evaluating
opportunities and looking for the next potential deal,” Nayquonabe
said. No new deals are imminent, he added, “but I can share that we
have our eye on a few properties throughout the country that would
possibly make nice additions to our portfolio.”

Diversification was a stated goal at
Mille Lacs when Band chief executive Melanie Benjamin named
Nayquonabe to the commissioner’s post three years ago. With
acquisitions and business expansions along the way, Mille Lacs
leaders have insisted that gaming revenue is flattening out. Future
economic growth must come from non-gaming enterprises.

On July 2 the Red Lake Tribal Council
reconvened after a morning Special Council meeting as U.S. Senator
Amy Klobuchar visited with the Red Lake Tribal Council about issues
of concern to the tribe. Several tribal council members participated
in a conversation about Indian Country and the government to
government relationship between Red Lake Nation and the United
States. Tribal Council Officers Chairman Darrell G. Seki, Sr.,
Secretary Donald Cook, and Secretary Annette Johnson, were joined by
council members Gary Nelson and Randy "Jiggs" Kingbird of
Ponemah, Little Rock council member Robert "Charlie"
Reynolds, and Red Lake reps Roman Stately and Robert Smith. Chief
Billy King also attended.

The informal meeting began with the
tribal council expressing concerns to the Senator and two
accompanying staff. Several council members echoed an issue Red Lake
Chairman Darrell G. Seki brought up in his inaugural address and
continues to be on the council's agenda. "We need to be able to
prosecute non-members who bring drugs to our reservation. They come
up from the Twin Cities with their drugs and endanger our youth. We
need to be able to deal with this," said Tribal Secretary Don
Cook.

Klobuchar said she understood, pointing
out that; "the Senate passed legislation that enables Indian
tribes to prosecute non-members for domestic violence, maybe drugs
comes next," she said.

"We've had a bit of trouble in
this area of debate," Klobuchar noted. "There is a
perception that non-members cannot get a fair trial in any Indian
court. We need to deal with that issue. Passing this kind of
legislation is even more difficult," she said, "because so
many states do not have Indian Reservations and simply do not
understand the issues. We will continue to educate them."

(The Tribal Council has passed a
resolution a few months ago to allow banishment of non-members who
bring drugs on the Red Lake Reservation.)

June 17 marked an historic moment in
Minnesota Indian Country: the first Two Spirit LGBT Awareness Day on
the Leech Lake Reservation and the first visit by OutFront Minnesota,
the state’s leading organization supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender equality, to a Minnesota reservation.

The celebration, which drew more than
50 guests took place on the front lawn of the Leech Lake Housing
Authority in Cass Lake, Minn. Under sunny skies, guests listened to
speakers and guitarist Michael Lyons, while eating a buffet lunch of
BBQ pork, wild rice, baked beans, fresh fruit and vegetables and fry
bread – all topped off by a colorful rainbow cake.

The festivities were the brainchild of
tribal member Julie Kurschner-Pineda, an attempt – she explained –
to counter some of the suffering she has seen Two Spirit tribal
citizens endure. “A lot of our people are striving to be loved and
that’s what this is all about,” she said.

The celebration was not without
controversy. Kurschner-Pineda, who manages the Leech Lake Homeless
Resource Program, reported that she received a number of complaints
but prominent tribal leaders attended the event, including council
member LeRoy Staples Fairbanks, III, who said he was encouraged to
attend by a tribal elder and Megan Treuer, who spoke in her official
capacity as an associate tribal judge.

Treuer explained that while the Leech
Lake legal code does not explicitly address LGBT issues, “We are
required to use traditional teachings and can seek input from
spiritual advisors.” So when tribal member Arnold Dahl sought to
marry his long-time partner Matthew Wooley in November 2013, Treuer
explained that Leech Lake’s chief tribal judge was able to
officiate at the marriage by relying on traditional teachings that
hold that, “everyone is equal and everyone should be treated with
respect.” She noted that the Leech Lake tribal court was one of the
first tribal courts to perform a same-sex marriage ceremony.

“It wasn’t a shameful thing long
ago. It was a gift. Before we were colonized, we understood Two
Spirit people are chosen by the Creator,” Eric Shepherd, a member
of the management team of Leech Lake Housing Authority who has a
brother who is Two Spirit, said.

Several Minnesota Indian bands are
upset about what they say is a lack of consultation over a proposed
controversial oil pipeline across northern Minnesota.

This week, the Mille Lacs and White
Earth Ojibwe bands are holding their own public hearings on plans for
the Sandpiper line, a $2.6 billion pipeline that would pump North
Dakota crude 300 miles across Minnesota to its terminal in Superior,
Wis., and eventually to refineries around the Great Lakes.

The tribal hearings are happening as
the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission readies a major ruling on
the project's need.

While the route preferred by Canadian
pipeline company Enbridge Energy does not cross any Indian
reservations, it does cross a large area of lakes and forests in
northern Minnesota where treaties give tribes the right to hunt, fish
and gather.

Tribal members say they are especially
concerned about potential impacts on their right to gather wild rice.
A three-hour meeting Enbridge hosted last week on the Fond du Lac
Reservation was sometimes tense and emotional.

"If the wild rice dies, we die,"
said Michael Dahl, who drove four hours from the White Earth
reservation to attend the meeting. "Shame on you," he
shouted to Enbridge representatives.

Tanya Aubid, a Mille Lacs Band of
Ojibwe member who lives near the Rice Lake National Wildlife Refuge
near McGregor, Minn., broke down in tears as she talked about how a
pipeline spill near Rice Lake would be devastating.

Ojibwe migration stories tell of how
the people were told to keep moving until they came to a place where
food grew on the water.

"Wild Rice is very much an
integral part of our lives," she said. "It's there for us
for our ceremonies, for basic daily living, and something we've had
here for thousands and thousands of years."

Linda Coady, Enbridge's director of
sustainability, told tribal members she'd relay their concerns to the
company's senior leadership. While she didn't make any promises,
Coady said she hopes Enbridge and tribes can forge a less adversarial
relationship.

"There are very strong feelings;
there are obviously a lot of concerns about the potential impact of a
spill in relation to wild rice," she said.

"On some of the issues, we have
shared values, common goals," she added. "No one wants to
threaten the wild rice in Minnesota."

Enbridge has hired a tribal relations
consultant. But several bands say neither Enbridge nor the state have
done enough to consult with tribes.

A federal grand jury has indicted 41
people in connection with a drug trafficking ring focused on two
Indian reservations in Minnesota.

Authorities say the ring distributed
drugs including heroin, methamphetamine, oxycodone and others in and
around the Red Lake and White Earth Indian reservations starting in
April 2014. Drugs were obtained in Detroit, Chicago and Minneapolis.

Heroin and prescription drugs have
blazed a horrific path on the reservation, said Randy Goodwin, White
Earth director of public safety. He said even newborn babies have
been exposed to heroin because of their mothers' addictions.
"Many
lives, families, and communities have been damaged or destroyed from
this poison," Goodwin said. "Lives have been lost from
overdose. Families have been destroyed. Our elders have been victims
of threats, abuse, and theft."

Prosecutors describe Omar Sharif
Beasley, 37, as the ringleader of the operation, alleging that he
"recruited sources, supervisors, managers, distributors,
facilitators, couriers, drivers." A former federal fugitive,
Beasley has a history of drug convictions. For the past month, he has
been held at the Anoka County jail on an unrelated charge of
violating his probation.

Others charged include residents of
North Dakota, Chicago, Milwaukee and the White Earth and Red Lake
reservations.

Each suspect has been charged
with conspiracy to distribute the drugs. Other charges for some of
the suspects include drug possession with intent to distribute,
illegal possession of a firearm and distribution of heroin,
methamphetamine and prescription painkillers.

Copyright 2008 The Circle News. All rights reserved. The Circle New is dedicated to presenting news from a Native American perspective, while granting an equal opportunity to community voices. Editorials and articles are the sole responsibility of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion, attitude, or philosophy of The Circle or the corporation. The Circle does not endorse any product or service accepted as advertising. The Circle reserves the right to reject any advertising, material, or letters submitted for publication. NO PART OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT THE WRITTEN CONSENT OF THE PUBLISHER.West7th**